DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 179 



by examining the womb with the oiled hand introduced through the 

 rectum. *. 



Polypi may cause a inuco-puruleut discharge, or they may only be 

 suspected when they prove an obstacle to parturition. The best way 

 to remove them is to put the chain of an ecraseur around the neck or 

 pedicel of the tumor and tear it through ; or the narrow neck may be 

 torn through by the emasculator, or in an emergency it may be twisted 

 through by rotating the tumor on its own axis. The removal of the 

 tumor will allow calving to proceed, after which the sore may be treated 

 by a daily injection of one-half dram sulphate of zinc, 1 dram carbolic 

 acid, and 1 quart milk-warm water. 



SIGNS OF PREGNANCY. 



If a cow remains for three or four weeks after service without show- 

 ing signs of heat (bulling) she is probably pregnant. There are very 

 exceptional cases in which the well-fed cow will accept the bull weeks 

 or months after actual conception, and others equally exceptional in 

 which the well-thriven but unimpregnated female will refuse the male 

 persistently, but these in no way invalidate the general rule. 



The bull, no matter how vigorous nor how ardent his sexual instinct, 

 can not be made to pay any attention to a cow which is not in heat ; 

 hence indications of pregnacy can be had from both the male and female 

 side. When she has conceived the cow usually becomes more quiet and 

 docile, and lays on flesh and fat more rapidly, especially during the first 

 four months of gestation. The stimulus to digestion and nutrition 

 created by the demands of the growing fetus, added to the quieter and 

 more uneventful life, contributes to this result. Some feeders avail of 

 this disposition to prepare heifers and cows speedily for the butcher. 



The enlargement of the abdomen, and its dropping so that it bulges 

 below and to each side, while it falls in at the flank, between the outer 

 angle of the hip bone and the last rib, are significant features which, 

 though they may be caused by abdominal tumor or dropsy, are usually 

 marks of pregnancy. From the same increasing weight of the abdomen 

 the spine in the region of the loins sinks so that the bones of the croup 

 seem to rise, especially back towards the root of the tail. In the early 

 stages of pregnancy the udder develops slowly, and towards its comple- 

 tion quite rapidly. For a long time there is merely a sense of greater 

 fullness when handled; the wrinkles in the skin become shallower and 

 arc effaced, and the teats are materially enlarged. Beginning a few 

 weeks after conception, this tends to a steady development, though 

 slight, alternations in the sense of successive growth and shrinkage are 

 not uncommon. In milking-cows this does not hold, as the milk usually 

 tends to a steady diminution and the udder shrinks slowly until near 

 the completion of the ]>eriod, when it undergoes its sudden remarkable 

 development, and yields at first a serous liquid and (hen the yellow 

 colostrum, which coagulates when heated. AB pregnancy advances the 



